Parliamentary election in La Rioja 2019
The 2019 regional elections in Rioja took place on May 26, 2019 to elect the 10th parliament of the autonomous community of La Rioja . All 33 seats in parliament should be up for election. The elections were scheduled to coincide with the regional elections in eleven other autonomous communities and local elections across Spain as well as the elections to the European Parliament in 2019.
Electoral system
The Parliament of La Rioja is the dedicated, unicameral legislature of the La Rioja Autonomous Community, which has legislative power in regional matters within the meaning of the Spanish Constitution and the Rioja Statute of Autonomy, as well as the ability to trust a president of the Autonomous Community or withdraw it. 1) Voting in Parliament is based on universal suffrage, which includes all nationals over the age of 18 who are registered in La Rioja and in full exercise of their political rights. In addition, Riojans abroad must request a vote before being allowed to vote, a system known as "begging"; or expat voting is known (Spanish: Voto rogado). The 33 members of Parliament in La Rioja are elected according to the D'Hondt method and a closed list ratio, whereby the threshold of 5 percent of the valid votes - including the blank ballot papers - is applied regionally. Parties that do not reach the threshold are not taken into account in the allocation of seats. The electoral law provides that parties, associations, coalitions and groups of voters can submit lists of candidates. However, associations of voters are required in order to receive the signature of at least one percent of the voters registered in La Rioja. Voters are prohibited from signing for more than one list of candidates. At the same time, parties and associations that intend to form a coalition in order to jointly participate in an election are obliged to inform the responsible electoral commission within ten days of the declaration of the election.
Election date
The La Rioja Parliament's term of office expires four years from the date of its last election. Parliamentary elections are set for the fourth Sunday in May every four years. The last election took place on May 24, 2015, with the parliamentary election date set for Sunday May 26, 2019. The President of the Autonomous Community had the prerogative to dissolve the Parliament of La Rioja and to hold a quick election, provided that no motion of censure was tabled, no national elections were due and some time constraints were met: namely that the dissolution neither during the first legislative period nor within the last year of the legislature before the planned expiry before the end of a year since an earlier dissolution. Should an investiture process fail to elect a regional president within two months of the first ballot, parliament should automatically be dissolved and a new election held. Any quick election carried out due to these circumstances would not change the time until the next ordinary election, as the elected MPs only serve the remaining part of their four-year term.